If the strange saga surrounding Timmy Chandler’s decision to reject Jurgen Klinsmann’s invitation to join the U.S. national team this summer demonstrates anything, it’s that representing your country demands a physical and emotional commitment that isn’t for everyone.

The only account that swells while playing for your national team is the frequent flyer account. Summer vacations are sacrificed for training camps, which can be a tough tradeoff for those just finishing up a 10-month season in Europe.

The wear and tear can impact both body and mind.

That’s why Klinsmann, since he took over last summer, has said he is looking for those players who are willing to commit themselves to their craft and their country 24/7.

“I want players who are willing to go the extra mile,” the coach has said.

In Clint Dempsey, Klinsmann has an athlete going further than any American field player ever has. There is no question now, as the road to the 2014 World Cup begins, that the face of the U.S. national team bears a bit of scruff and a scowl.

The record-setting Fulham star, who plays with an intimidating determination forged by loss -- “All the years ain't promised to you,” he’s said -- and during those three-hour drives to soccer practice back in his native Texas, now has the skills to match that intensity.

Dempsey, 29, will be the focal point of Klinsmann’s quest to qualify the U.S. for Brazil. He is the player who must come through in the clutch and the player around whom the coach will craft offensive tactics and formation.

The U.S. has been taking soccer seriously for about 30 years now, and Dempsey is the closest thing to a world-class field player the U.S. has produced.

If the 2010 World Cup was about Landon Donovan’s growth and redemption, the road to 2014 will be about whether Dempsey can get over that hump, earn his place among the sport’s elite and deliver as the unquestioned leader for his country.

Dempsey’s resolve already is evident. This will be his fourth consecutive summer with the U.S. Despite a groin injury that kept him out of Fulham’s season finale Sunday, he expects to hook up with the national team Friday in Orlando, Fla.

There’s no time for rest.

The U.S. will play exhibition matches against Scotland (May 26 in Jacksonville), Brazil (May 30 in Landover, Md.) and Canada (June 3 in Toronto) before World Cup qualifying begins vs. Antigua and Barbuda (June 8 in Tampa) and at Guatemala (June 12 in Guatemala City).

Dempsey was the only forward listed on the 16-man roster announced Tuesday. A few more frontrunners certainly will be named Sunday when Klinsmann unveils the remainder of his team, but the initial list from U.S. Soccer is slightly symbolic: Dempsey must score goals.

This season, he has proven without any doubt that he can do so. Playing largely as a midfielder at Fulham, Dempsey found the net 23 times during the 2011-12 campaign in domestic and continental competition. He is adept as a penalty-area predator and as a player who can create his own chances, and he’s lethal both from long range and with his head.

Dempsey’s 23 goals set a record for an American abroad and the 17 goals he scored in English Premier League play was bettered by only Robin Van Persie (Arsenal), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) and Sergio Agüero (Manchester City).

Dempsey is nearly as productive for the U.S. He scored the only goal in the Americans’ historic 1-0 win at Italy in February and in the 1-0 defeat of Honduras last fall. He led the national team with five goals in 2011 and clearly is the team’s top offensive threat.

Jozy Altidore, who had a breakout season at AZ Alkmaar, has the potential to score regularly at the international level. Donovan, the national team’s all-time leading scorer, now is more of a linking player who creates on the counterattack and in combinations from wider positions.

The pressure will be on Dempsey to finish.

The question facing Klinsmann, then, is how to use Dempsey this summer. The coach told ESPN recently that, “Down the road, I'd like to have two strikers and have a Clint Dempsey underneath, but you also have to adjust.”

Klinsmann hasn’t deployed two strikers that often during his 10-game reign. More often, there’s a single frontrunner leading the line with two forwards in support on the flanks, or a lone striker (likely Altidore) in front of a more fluid five-man midfield.

Klinsmann faces an interesting quandary. Dempsey has proven he’s a threat from withdrawn positions and even as a playmaker, so why not put your best player in position to touch the ball as often as possible? But at the same time, Dempsey’s quality near the goal is obvious. So perhaps playing him higher and closer to the target makes more sense.

The choice Klinsmann makes will have a domino effect through the rest of the team and might go a long way toward shaping the Americans’ results this summer.

While Dempsey is asked to score goals for his country, the intrigue surrounding his club situation will be a constant topic of conversation. His desire to play in the UEFA Champions League after more than five years at Fulham is well known, but he also has been clear that he enjoys life at the West London club and that the pitch isn’t always greener elsewhere. He hasn’t signed an extension and will be a free agent next year.

Rumors about interest from the likes of Arsenal and AS Roma go a long way toward validating Dempsey’s increasing stature, but there’s a sense that his nationality muddies perception and that a European or Latin American player putting up those numbers for a middling EPL outfit like Fulham would be targeted by a greater number of the sport’s top clubs.

He also might have been in the running for more honors. Dempsey finished fourth in the voting for England’s Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award and wasn’t even among the six finalists for the Professional Footballers' Association Players' Player of the Year award.

This week, The Guardian chided its readers for not naming Dempsey to the EPL’s team of the season and went so far as to put his photo atop the story that unveiled the league’s 11 top performers as selected by fans, even though the Texan wasn’t on the list.

This summer, Dempsey can begin to cement place as both the talismanic player the U.S. national team needs and, if a move to a big club happens, as world soccer’s first bona fide American star.

The World Cup qualifying campaign, which will require 16 games spread over a year-and-a-half, will have his stamp all over it. And Klinsmann, while acknowledging his star’s unsurpassed commitment and skill, believes there’s even more to come.

“Step by step, we’re getting to where the presence of Clint Dempsey makes a huge difference,” the coach said last fall. “It’s a huge weapon we have in him. His vision on the field, his sharpness, his one-on-one skills, are really top class. I’m going to push him, not to be content with anything that happens in the Premier League.